"Let me steer, Blake?" asked Harry Winn.
Blake and another boy, Fred Carr, who was with him, laughed.
"I"ll do the steering, Harry," said Blake firmly. "You other youngsters pile on where you please, but I"ll keep Sunny Boy near me.
If he fell off we might lose him entirely, he"s so little."
Sunny Boy smiled, but he did not say anything. He was having a beautiful time. The six small boys got on the sled, and Blake and three other high school friends of his got on, too. The big bob started. Sunny Boy closed his eyes. My, how the wind whistled! How the snow flew up and stung their faces! And how soon they came to the bottom of the hill and shot across the little bridge that was at the foot.
"Do it again," said Sunny Boy to Blake.
They did it again, half a dozen times in fact, before Blake and Fred said that it was quarter to five and time to stop. Then they put the small boys on the sled and gave them a ride home. Blake said no one need say "thank you" to him, because he had had more fun than anybody!
That evening, as Sunny Boy sat in Grandma Horton"s lap after dinner and watched the fire burn merrily in the grate, he remembered that Oliver had said the next day would be New Year"s Day.
"What do we do on New Year, Grandma?" Sunny Boy asked curiously.
"Oh, people come to see us," replied Grandma Horton, giving him a kiss.
"And you may pa.s.s them the New Year"s cakes that Harriet has baked for us. You will like that, won"t you?"
CHAPTER VI
THE PARKNEY FAMILY
"Happy new year, precious!" said Mother, coming into Sunny Boy"s room to put down his window the next morning.
"Happy New Year, Sunny Boy!" cried Grandpa and Grandma Horton, when they met him in the hall on the way to breakfast.
"Happy New Year, Son!" said Daddy Horton, catching him in his arms and lifting him as high as the Christmas tree which still stood in one corner of the parlor.
"Happy New Year, Sunny Boy!" cried Harriet, waving a dish towel at him when he peeped into her kitchen.
"I think New Year is nice," said Sunny Boy, when Mother said he might have two waffles for his breakfast because of the holiday. Usually Mother said that hot cakes were not good for little boys.
After breakfast Sunny Boy brought down his lead soldiers from the playroom and played with them on the rug before the fire place. This was the last day the Christmas tree would be left standing, Mother Horton said, so he liked to stay near it.
"When will it be time to pa.s.s the New Year cakes?" he asked Harriet, when she came in to bring more wood for the fire.
"This afternoon," she answered. "When the callers come."
Sunny Boy"s Aunt Bessie came to dinner, which was at one o"clock as on Sunday, and Sunny Boy was very glad to see her. She brought him a little set of bells and showed him how he could play a tune on them by striking them with a wooden mallet. Sunny Boy could play "Annie Laurie" before the afternoon was over.
After dinner came visitors. They were all grown up people, and Mrs.
Horton and Aunt Bessie gave them tea to drink and sandwiches from the tea wagon and Sunny Boy, in his best white flannel sailor suit, pa.s.sed them the plates of New Year cakes which Harriet had baked. They were delicious little cakes with caraway seeds and pink sugar on them, and Sunny Boy had three for himself.
It was nearly six o"clock before the "company" as Sunny Boy called them, had gone. Then, to his surprise, his daddy came into the parlor with his overcoat on and his hat in his hand.
"Olive," he said to Sunny Boy"s mother, "I"m going over to Dover street in the River Section for a short call. Father is going with me. We heard this afternoon of a family who are pretty hard up."
"Is there anything I can send them?" asked Mrs. Horton. "Harriet will heat up some soup and you can carry it in the vacuum bottle."
"Let me go with you, Daddy?" begged Sunny Boy. "I can carry some New Year cakes."
"We are not going to take anything till we find out what is needed,"
answered Mr. Horton. "From what I"ve heard, I"m afraid that this family was overlooked at Christmas. The husband is out work and there are several children."
"Who are the children?" asked Sunny Boy, when his daddy and grandfather had gone. "What are their names, Mother? Are there any little boys?"
"I don"t know, precious," replied Mrs. Horton, "but I think likely.
Suppose you and I and Grandma go upstairs and look through the Square Box and see if we have some clothes to send them. I am pretty sure Daddy will come back and tell us that they need warm clothes."
Sunny Boy knew all about the Square Box. It stood in the hall closet next to the bathroom, and in it Mrs. Horton put all his clothes that were too small for him to wear and all the clothes her friends gave her, and her own clothes and those of Mr. Horton"s that they could no longer wear. Everything was cleaned and mended before it was put in the box, and then, when she heard of some family who did not have enough clothes to wear in winter, or who needed something clean and cool in summer, Mrs. Horton could go to the Square Box and find just what was wanted.
"I hope you didn"t give away everything for Christmas," said Grandma Horton anxiously.
Sunny Boy hoped so, too. He knew that his mother had sent several bundles of clothes away at Christmas time and the minister had telephoned her twice for clothes for his poor people. But Mother Horton said there were still some clothes left in the Square Box.
"Here is a good coat for a little girl and three sets of underwear for a man," she said, when they had opened the box. "And this is a warm dress for the mother, if she needs one. And if Daddy comes home and tells us he needs other things for the family, we"ll get them for him."
"Are there any little boys?" shouted Sunny Boy, as soon as his daddy opened the front door.
Daddy and Grandpa Horton were covered with snow, for it had begun to snow again. They were cold and hungry, too, and Mrs. Horton said that Harriet should put the hot supper on the table and they could talk while they ate.
"I"d like to have that family up at Brookside just a month," declared Grandpa Horton, stirring his tea. "I tell you, Olive, we don"t have such cases in the country. There"s a man and wife and seven children, living in two rooms."
"Did they have any Christmas?" asked Grandma Horton.
"Not a sign," said Grandpa Horton. "The man has been out of work for two months and he won"t go near the charity bureau. He has an injured arm and he ought to be under a doctor"s treatment. There"s a boy sick in bed, too, with a heavy cold, and the mother is about ready to give up. But they won"t take charity--say they"ll starve first."
"We built them a fire," Mr. Horton explained. "And I went out and bought them food for a good supper--told the man he could pay me when he got work. I think I can make him see a doctor to-morrow. And I must find a job for him."
"I have some clothes in the Square Box," said Mrs. Horton. "I can get more, if you will persuade them to accept such things. I don"t think they ought to refuse because of the children. If Sunny Boy had no warm coat to wear I think I"d take one from any one who would give it to me."
"I could take the sick boy a New Year cake," declared Sunny Boy, who had been listening. "Is he as big as I am, Daddy?"
"I should say he was about fourteen years old," replied Mr. Horton. "I don"t know but I will take you to-morrow morning, Sunny. You"ll see some children who didn"t get even a candy cane from Santa Claus."
Sunny Boy glanced across the hall. From where he sat at the table he could see his Christmas tree.
"I"ll take them my candy canes," he said. "Mother is going to take the tree down tomorrow. I ate only two canes, Daddy, so there are enough left."
"All right," answered his daddy. "You may take the children anything you wish. That family can use anything, and we won"t let them refuse our help. They"ll be on their feet again the faster if they accept aid before they are all discouraged."
The next morning Sunny Boy and his grandpa had to go alone to see the poor family. From Daddy Horton"s office came a telephone message that he must come and see a man on very important business before nine o"clock, and he had only time to eat his breakfast and run for a car.
But Grandpa Horton promised him that he would see to the Parkneys.
That was their name--Mr. and Mrs. Parkney and Bob, Joe, Elsie, Alice, Kitty, Ned, and Charlie Parkney. Grandpa Horton had the names written down on a slip of paper.